West Lothian buses

[overthewater]

Its not helped they have over buses wester inch.

 

[alchemy]

Its not helped they have over buses wester inch.

??????

 

[overthewater]

There is to many buses in wester inch.

 

[In Focus]

It's no coincidence the busiest ones 275 and 280 are almost direct duplicate of First routes 22(Whitburn to Livingston) and 25 (Blackridge to Livingston), meanwhile the ones they have tried to reincarnate from days gone by 287 and ×18 are proving to be a disaster ,which was one of a few reasons they were ditched in the first place !
27 and 28 will never be money spinners either ,far too long and drawn out ,not enough passengers and First again ditched these for a reason ,in fact 850,000 reasons !!

 

[TheEastCoaster]

Phase 4 being introduced on March 31st

New service
281- Deans North to Loganlea
Via West Calder, Polbeath, Livingston Centre, Craigshill, St John’s Hospital, Ladywell, Knightridge and Carmondean

Service change
280- Improved Frequency
X27 - Now serve Dedridge West
X18 - Extended to Whitburn from Armadale
N28 - Weekday journeys introduced

Thoughts?

 

[TheEastCoaster]

Phase 4 being introduced on March 31st

New service
281- Deans North to Loganlea
Via West Calder, Polbeath, Livingston Centre, Craigshill, St John’s Hospital, Ladywell, Knightridge and Carmondean

Service change
280- Improved Frequency
X27 - Now serve Dedridge West
X18 - Extended to Whitburn from Armadale
N28 - Weekday journeys introduced

Thoughts?

Oh I forgot to add

280 - every 20 minutes and serving Ladywell East and Burnbank
X18 - Wester Inch area withdrawn
287 - Now serves Ladywell and Burnbank
X27/X28 - Now stops at Chesser Avenue and Balgreen, stops between Sighthill and Parkhead will be served now

And more importantly

109 - Withdrawn

 

[In Focus]

Phase 4 being introduced on March 31st

New service
281- Deans North to Loganlea
Via West Calder, Polbeath, Livingston Centre, Craigshill, St John’s Hospital, Ladywell, Knightridge and Carmondean

Service change
280- Improved Frequency
X27 - Now serve Dedridge West
X18 - Extended to Whitburn from Armadale
N28 - Weekday journeys introduced

Thoughts?

It was always going to happen they would tackle the A71 corridor , they obviously see the numbers boarding the Blue bus 71 and First 26/26a at Livingston and want a small piece of that .
Apart from that nothing major another bus (281)through a lot of 27/28 districts and extending X18 to Whitburn in a bid to save it (which won't happen).
Be interesting to see the improved frequency which is imagine is now a 15 minute service to mirror the First service.
Which makes the First network review at end of April even more intriguing . If nothing else it certainly adds spice to West Lothians bus network for now ,but as previously stated only 1 will survive by middle of 2020.
Wonder who will drop fares to try and pure passengers ?
Watch this space, as they say

 

[christopherrfc]

Full details here

https://lothiancountry.co.uk/lothiancountry-announces-phase-4-of-west-lothian-expansion/

 

[TheEastCoaster]

Personally I think these changes are for the most part positive

X18 - The extension to Whitburn for the most part will please the regulars in Bathgate with a more frequent and direct link link, plus Whitburn will have a direct bus link to the city centre again.

Cutting Western Inch might be disappointing for some but at least they still have the 287 to connect with. plus would speed up journey times in Bathgate.

X27/X28 - I think more stops on route to Edinburgh might be a good thing for this route, especially for connecting services and areas such as Balgreen for the 1, 2 and 38 and Chesser for the corn exchange. Plus the two extra stops between Parkhead and Sighthill won’t slow things down too much, if anything it might bring in more passangers

And the X27 serving Dedridge West was bound to happen, so that’s good for them to have that link brought back.


280 - of all the routes I’m surprised this got a frequency increase over the X27/X28 but good for the folk who use this service at least!

281 - Again this was a surprise, I guess they wanted to cover West Calder area before Kirkliston, wonder if this will use the singles?

Also assume West Calder will be Zone A? With Loganlea being Zone B?

N28 - Good news for the weekday journeys! Again not surprised they’re withdrawing the 109 but surprised they mentioned it on the LCB page when it’s not even a LCB service

 

[goldisgood]

Looks like more copycatting of First services? 281 is basically just the 26 isn't it, and the 280 mirrors the 25 pretty much...

 

[overthewater]

Whoop de do, So you still have to pay more for longer jounrey times? We have just gotten rid of the awful network for these bunch of jokers to bring it back. Lothian network is so dull and uninspiring its joke. The changes make no logical sense and will do nothing to keep passengers, every change is so ponderous

X18: We were told it would pick up lots of rail passengers? What happened? Why is it being improved on Saturday & Sunday early morning

X27: So it will take even longer to get to Edinburgh now?
281: is a carbon copy of the X27/X28 with Livingston area, really who in the right mind would use this service from Deans of Knightsbridge to get to the Shops? Of course it has to put in the fact its now goes Morrisons to copy First service..... Its 30mins by Lothian from Deans - Shops, its 23mins to the shops from KB...

The 287 and 280 should have been merged to operate a joint 15min service between Livingston - St Johns - Bathgate ( both going different routes between Bathgate and St Johns

 

[Observer]

I wonder how many more buses do they need for the service changes. There's supposed to be more ex-London stock coming but supposedly to replace the white deckers rather than compliment them? Or are they going to take anything from Lothian once the tri-axles start?

 

[LiviCrazy]

I’ve seen the 275 about various places and at various times, I’ve never seen it with more than 5 or 6 passengers on it even at peak times. Is it really that successful? I also have to question who came up with it’s route in Livingston, it is quite bizarre.

The X27/X28 do seem to be picking up passengers from what I see, it now seems to be a roughly 50/50 split between First and LCB.

The other routes I’ve only ever seen a handful of passengers on at any time of day.

 

[TheEastCoaster]

I’ve seen the 275 about various places and at various times, I’ve never seen it with more than 5 or 6 passengers on it even at peak times. Is it really that successful? I also have to question who came up with it’s route in Livingston, it is quite bizarre.

The X27/X28 do seem to be picking up passengers from what I see, it now seems to be a roughly 50/50 split between First and LCB.

The other routes I’ve only ever seen a handful of passengers on at any time of day.

The X27/X28 are definitely the most popular of the bunch, and the new stops in Edinburgh will help more with that, including connecting Dedridge West, overall it’s an interesting change!

What I don’t get with the new N28 is that it says the Deans to Sighthill journeys are withdrawn, is there only one journey to Longstone on the N28? so the X28 must start running at 4AM and 5AM now to get to Parkhead for 5/6AM?

 

[overthewater]

Yes the X28 will be running at 4 and 5am..

 

[In Focus]

One thing i will say is whoever is behind it is certainly playing Russian Roulette with their career , not sure the business model of losing money to then expand to lose more money is one the Bransons and Ashleys of this World actually subscribe too.
Obviously banking of First selling out or doing a Musselburgh, not sure that's going to happen anytime soon so I'd say 2 of the blanks have gone in the game of RR .

 

[TheEastCoaster]

Yes the X28 will be running at 4 and 5am..

Oh well that’s good for the workers then! and the minority’s that actually use the 109

 

[VioletEclipse]

Oh well that’s good for the workers then! and the minority’s that actually use the 109

It seems that Lothian's longstanding 'secret' service is finally coming to an end.

 

[Scott mac]

One thing i will say is whoever is behind it is certainly playing Russian Roulette with their career , not sure the business model of losing money to then expand to lose more money is one the Bransons and Ashleys of this World actually subscribe too.
Obviously banking of First selling out or doing a Musselburgh, not sure that's going to happen anytime soon so I'd say 2 of the blanks have gone in the game of RR .

Surely if lc were losing money then they would start withdrawing routes or start cuting back but their not so they must be doing something right

 

[In Focus]

Surely if lc were losing money then they would start withdrawing routes or start cuting back but their not so they must be doing something right

They are losing money ,do not believe the hype or bluster ,90% of buses running at 10% Capacity cannot make money.
More buses , more losses as I say not a typical business plan and only 1 company can survive this so obviously they are gambling big time ,as with all gambles you either win or lose ....

 

[overthewater]

The weekly and monthly passengers are staying with First. I never thought First could win a bus war but Lothian are so incompetent................

 

[In Focus]

West Lothians Council tax bills due out this week ,4% reduction for anyone who doesn't use LCB ?
I have asked why I should fund a bus company I don't want or need . Awaiting a reply !!
4% of 1400 = £63 so I'm going to be quids in
I may donate my refund to St Johns Kids ward fund....

 

[Driver362]

Why do you think YOUR council tax is paying for LOTHIAN COUNTRY BUSES?. Can you explain your logic on how you arrived at that ,the facts are it doesn't mater how many pax you seen.on our buses ,the people that matter can see otherwise and to put your mind at ease further none of our services are subsidised with your council tax cash ,however I'm sure there are p!enty.other bus services that are in West Lothian .....

 

[In Focus]

Why do you think YOUR council tax is paying for LOTHIAN COUNTRY BUSES?. Can you explain your logic on how you arrived at that ,the facts are it doesn't mater how many pax you seen.on our buses ,the people that matter can see otherwise and to put your mind at ease further none of our services are subsidised with your council tax cash ,however I'm sure there are p!enty.other bus services that are in West Lothian .....

Lol ,I knew somebody would bite
Do West Lothian council not have a 4% stak
e in Lothian?
I will let you know if I get my 4% reduction though

 

[TheEastCoaster]

Honestly I’m no expert in this field but surely customer feedback to this news shows that a good chuck of these services are being used at least, i’e: the Facebook post which showed folk mostly reacting to the X18 change above all else but besides that all seems positive, whatever people’s opinions are, or preferences on which bus company, people are still going to use whichever service they prefer and while I’m happy LCB is expanding more, people are going to have more options thrown at them either way.

 

[In Focus]

Honestly I’m no expert in this field but surely customer feedback to this news shows that a good chuck of these services are being used at least, i’e: the Facebook post which showed folk mostly reacting to the X18 change above all else but besides that all seems positive, whatever people’s opinions are, or preferences on which bus company, people are still going to use whichever service they prefer and while I’m happy LCB is expanding more, people are going to have more options thrown at them either way.

The point is though won't matter how many services in West Lothian it will be same numbers just spread out, 20 people on 4 buses = 5 per bus , 20 people on 2 buses =10 per bus , it's the running costs of putting these extra vehicles into service that will ultimately decide who remains and who doesn't ,as stated before you will not suddenly encourage an extra 5 or 10 thousand extra passengers to abandon car and suddenly become reliant on a bus .

 

[In Focus]

the people that matter can see otherwise

As stated previously ,very much a Russian Roulette management strategy to lose money then gamble more money to get you money back , I'm not sure that type of high risk strategy in the bus industry is the wisest move ,but I certainly tip my hat to whoever is making these calls for bravery ,it may well be their road to riches or perhaps their last ever management job !! Time will tell .

 

[Tartanarmy85]

First bus 600 must make big loses double decker never see anyone on it must be low numbers if Any Lothian Country are getting passenger good loads on X27 X28 X18 and 280 when I been on

 

[In Focus]

First bus 600 must make big loses double decker never see anyone on it must be low numbers if Any Lothian Country are getting passenger good loads on X27 X28 X18 and 280 when I been on

I would imagine it is like most routes in West Lothian now, simply put no one will make a profit with this amount of buses running around West Lothian ,too many buses not nearly enough people .

 

[Gingerbus1991]

I would imagine it is like most routes in West Lothian now, simply put no one will make a profit with this amount of buses running around West Lothian ,too many buses not nearly enough people .

Well there is enough people in West Lothian, just a lack of them using a bus.